Miura wedges are about as premium as premium can get. If you're looking to dial in your short game, these are wedges you should certainly consider.

One thing I try to do before the start of every new golf season is to get my clubs tuned up -- new grips, check the lies and lofts and shafts.

Like most golfers, I struggle enough with my game that I don't need the equipment bringing me down.

The importance of a proper fitting cannot be understated. Without one, golfers are cheating themselves. For anyone who doesn't think they're good enough for a fitting, the truth is you're not good enough to not have one. It's an investment in lower scores and, at the end of the day, isn't that what all avid golfers are after?

As we all know, the most important part of your game is from 100 yards and in. Along with my recent tune-up, I was also in the market for some new wedges, hoping that just the right ones, along with all my hard work around the greens, will lead to lower scores.

During the tune-up a few weeks back, I was interested in learning more about a golf company out of Japan called "Miura."

Among golf club aficionados, clubs produced by Miura are considered to be about the best a player can get his or her hands on.

Just a little background -- master craftsman Katsuhiro Miura hand crafts each of his clubs, one-by-one with his two sons in a factory every day. They're not mass produced and a special forging technique yields incredible feel, which is what sets Miura apart.

These aren't just golf clubs, they're pieces of art.

Since "feel" is put at such a premium by Miura, I was most interested in the company's black, forged wedges, made out of carbon Japanese steel.

Tom Spargo, a Golf Digest top-100 clubfitter in the country and a top-10 worldwide club-builder by the Golf Clubmakers Association, owns Spargo Golf in Cranston, R.I., which is where I was able to look into the wedges.

When I asked Spargo about his own club set up -- someone who works with the best of the best on a daily basis -- he didn't miss a beat.

"Miura," he told me.

When someone like Spargo, who makes a living out of knowing the ins and outs of all kinds of equipment tells you what he has in his own bag, there's probably a good reason for it.

Appearance-wise, they're about the prettiest wedges I've ever seen and that's because of its simplicity. It's a straightforward, sleek design with no gimmicky features that looks beautiful at address. While looks aren't everything, there's no doubt that there's a level of confidence a golfer has when he or she has equipment that looks good to the eye at address.

I looked at several Miura wedge models in Spargo's shop and -- for me -- nothing compared looks-wise to the Miura Black Forged. There's just something about that black clubhead that took it over the top for me.

Before ordering the wedges -- a 52-degree gap, 56-degree sand and 60-degree lob ($263/per) -- I was dialed in for a proper shaft, which ended up behing a True Temper, Dynamic Golf, S400. That particular shaft came in a Tour Issue black steel, which was just so sharp against the wedge heads.

After a quick turnaround -- roughly a week -- for the heads to arrive and be built with the shafts, I took the new wedges out to the range and to a large short-game area at my local course.

The feel was soft with a lot of feedback on full swings -- just what you want. The good shots felt tremendous, while the off-center hits made me what to get right to work on hitting the next good shot.

Around the greens from distances inside 50 yards I was amazed at my ability to control shots even out of the rough and even produce spin from not-so-spinny lies and the feel was second to no wedge I've ever hit before.

What got me so excited about these wedges around the green was my ability to lower my hands, move the club forward or back in my stance, open the face and simply swing without worrying about the club doing it's thing. It glided through the grass perfectly.

I can't wait to see how this all translates over the course of an entire season.